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It appears the anticipated sequel to Battlefield 4 will not be Battlefield 5. Instead, EA has apparently thrown traditional counting out the window by preparing Battlefield 1, a new shooter that seems to be set in an alternate history version of World War I.

Remember that the first Battlefield game (the one people sometimes call "Battlefield One," and which came before Battlefield 2) was actually titled Battlefield 1942. The name Battlefield 1 remains technically available, we suppose. The series has already jumped around to "1943" and "2143" over the years if you want to get really confusing with the numbering.

Really, 1 following 4 shouldn't even make us blink in a gaming world that includes Resident Evil Zero, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Madden NFL 25 (which followed Madden NFL 13) and, of course, the Xbox One console.

[Further Update: Yup, the game is actually called Battlefield 1, and features all sorts of World War I trappings, like Red Baron-style biplanes, saber-wielding troops on desert horseback, mortars, and plenty of zeppelins. Release date is October 21.

A trailer full of in-engine (note: not necessarily in-game) footage is below:

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Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl